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Smart home technologies provide an opportunity to address the housing design or retrofit-performance gap and to improve the building regulations. It is currently used to manage comfort, security, and resource efficiency but, adoption remains piecemeal, and disparate. This study aims to explore how householder perceptions of housing quality, and the cost–benefit of improvements informs the adoption of smart technologies. Further, it bridges the theory-to-practice gap by proposing the product-as-service domains that can be deployed for the upscaled implementation of smart home performance monitoring. The survey method returned 972 nationally representative responses. Factor analysis was then used to establish the housing quality priorities, and home improvement drivers that combine to inform the adoption of smart home performance monitoring. Findings show that householders will adopt technologies in return for a 'benefit' if reliable smart systems and data-feedback mechanisms are packaged as: (a) commerce services to support utility efficiencies and cost savings, (b) convenience and control services to improve comfort and wellbeing, (c) information and communication services to inform behaviours and decisions, and (d) entertainment services to satisfy hedonic needs. The paper concludes with practical, scalable implementation strategies for smart home performance monitoring. Thus bridging the gap between theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chagas disease is one of the most important vector-borne diseases in Latin America. Instituting home improvement preventive measures and increasing health education contribute to successful control of the triatomine insect vector. The impact of home and road improvements and health education upon the inhabitants of 37 human dwellings in three small towns in western Mexico were studied. Initially, few house roofs were made of concrete and few walls were cement-lined. Almost all houses initially lacked metal window screens and none used barbed wire fences. One year after the intervention, all of these measures were more common, and almost 100% of houses continued to use window screens and barbed wire fences ten years post-intervention. By ten years post-intervention, >75% of houses had cement-lined walls. Initially, 24.3% of human dwellings were infested with Triatoma longipennis Usinger; at one and ten years post-intervention, only 2.7% of dwellings were infested. The abundance of peridomestic opossums decreased after intervention and remained low ten years later. Approximately 10% of dogs were infected in both surveys. Human infections decreased from 2.98% to zero by 13 years post-intervention. Implementation of these intervention measures led to the successful control of Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas transmission in these towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Producing objects for one’s own consumption is a major strand in the historical development of material culture. Making things with one’s own hands can be considered a natural means to satisfy human needs. In the present time, this form of production is covered by the term “do-it-yourself” (DIY). DIY has become a global social phenomenon, especially thanks to the opportunities enabled by the Internet. Websites provide a lively forum for discussion, sharing ideas, how-to guides, and galleries of the results of DIY projects. The present work addresses home improvement DIY projects carried out by individuals in Slovakia. The aim is to outline the background, motivation and inspiration of so called do-it-yourselfers, the DIY process and participants’ evaluation of their work. DIY is generally considered to be an activity for amateurs, which is to say people who engage in the activity in their free time, as opposed to professionals, who perform such activity as their job or to earn a living. Moreover, the paper also partly focuses on the relationship between amateurs and professionals which has shown to be the basic principle of current DIY home improvements. One of significant findings of the research showed that the individual experience of craftsmanship or craftwork and the individual need for self-expression appear to be important parts of the DIY experience. Research findings contribute to a better understanding of DIY production in the context of design as an academic discipline. The main research method used was a questionnaire titled “DIY home improvement”, which was drawn up on the model of prior research abroad.

This paper draws on a study of Scottish householders living in "zero-carbon" homes. It explores how broader understandings of home comfort may explain changes that result in home life becoming increasingly energy demanding, despite householders' intentions to save or decarbonize energy. The paper argues that domestic energy research must engage with the dreams, aspirations, and images of home that ultimately drive consumption and impact investment in housing and home energy improvements. This is done by examining the interrelationship between energy retrofitting and installing microgeneration technologies alongside discussing meanings of home comfort and visions of ideal homes with householders. The study argues that an important aspect of home improvements is due to accommodating the "needs" of the peak household. The paper concludes by discussing how a wider range of people and interventions could be pursued to reduce domestic energy demand such as promoting downsizing or working with home or lifestyle companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1950s, the Federal Republic of Germany experienced the formation of the so-called do-it-yourself (DIY) movement. One of the biggest problems of the early German DIYer was the question of where to get the needed materials and tools for the tasks at hand. Fortunately for the DIYer, starting in the 1960s, entrepreneurs from different fields of retail began to see a promising economic factor in DIY-activities. In the late 1960s, the first large-scale retail facilities were built to serve the needs of the Western German lay-handymen. This article discusses how these companies addressed DIY-afficiandos, what managerial techniques they invented, and how they were able to take into account the notion that DIYers wanted to be recognised as producers more so than as consumers.

Following a period of unprecedented building in the 1960s and 1970s, the national government of Sweden decided on a programme to promote renovations, refurbishments and extension of older buildings. The programme (abbreviated R.O.T.) was introduced in 1984 and consisted of loans and subsidies for the modernisation of houses older than 30 years, as well as information to home owners and builders on the benefits of home improvement. The target was to modernise 425,000 homes during the period 1984–1993. The programme stated that 'the energy-saving measures must be intensified' and 'all out-dated and the main part of all inadequate apartments should be rebuilt to modern apartments, or be demolished'. By relating the processes that formed R.O.T. to theories of decision-making, this study contributes to a better understanding of how housing policies may affect historical values in the built environment. The study reveals a conflict of interest between stakeholders. R.O.T. developed ad hoc as discourses shifted between interests. Initially, it was presented as a solution for unemployment in the building sector and a social improvement for the poor and elderly. It was not until the late 1980s that a discussion turned to the consequences for historical values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Prosumer as Customer: DIY-Stores as Providers of "Solutions to Problems". Since the late 1950s, the Federal Republic of Germany experienced the formation of the so-called do-it-yourself (DIY) movement. One of the biggest problems of the early German DIYer was the question of where to get the needed materials and tools for the tasks at hand. Fortunately for the DIYer, starting in the 1960s, entrepreneurs from different fields of retail began to see a promising economic factor in DIY-activities. In the late 1960s, the first large-scale retail facilities were built to serve the needs of the Western German lay-handymen. This article discusses how these companies addressed DIY-afficionados, what managerial techniques they invented, and how they were able to take into account the notion that DIYers wanted to be recognised as producers more so than as consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Northern Virginia’s housing crisis is an increasingly worrisome issue amongst the local governments affected. While COVID-19 has influenced some residents to flee the region, it has also created an issue of housing shortages. The DC metropolitan area is densely populated, and the primary reason for this is the job opportunities within and surrounding the US capital. There are many other dynamics in question as well that cause surges in home values. The COVID-19 pandemic gave people reason to think more intentionally about their homes due to quarantines and lockdowns, and remote employment became more widespread in the region. This caused the population to think about either renovating their home or selling it to go elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Data and estimates on the spatial distribution of consumer spending form the foundation of retail location analysis and location-allocation spatial interaction models. The presented research presents and compares four methods to estimate consumer spending that combine different levels of detail in household spending data across multiple levels of household aggregation (i.e. census units). Results demonstrate that these methods, which use publicly available census data, can capture a substantial amount of reported sales. Furthermore, comparison of the best method with the de facto industry standard for business data in Canada shows a strong correlation (R2 > 0.85) across space and is within 10% of aggregate industry-derived spending estimate. Analysis of the spending data across space finds that the majority of spending occurs in census metropolitan areas with high spending clusters that offer unique opportunities for retail location. We interrogate the socio-demographic characteristics of the population in these high spending clusters and find that only a few variables are required to explain a large proportion of the variance in consumer spending. The overarching outcome of the presented research is that small-to-medium businesses, planners, and municipalities do not need expensive proprietary data to estimate and predict consumer spending and market demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Falls are common among the elderly, and can have serious consequences: fracture, hospitalization, loss of independence, institutionalization and death. However, falls are not inevitable, and they can be prevented. The "autonomy prevention" kit (Equilibr'Age workshops, occupational therapy advice) has helped to reduce the number of falls and improve people's quality of life. The program will now be rolled out to a wider public., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)